Hey I got a new fic for you all. Hope you enjoy and also please feel free to read my other fics which can be found by going to my page... That sounds weird. Anyway any questions you may have feel free to ask in a review. Enjoy.

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It's a new day in Nerima and everything is as it usually is: peaceful, quiet and...

"Ranma!" The sound of flesh meeting flesh is followed by a splash as Ranma finds himself in the pond on the Tendo property.

"Nice shot Sis." Nabiki is already snapping pictures of the wet Ranma-chan.

"Damn it Akane. Why'd ya have to go an' hit me like that?" The busty red head stands up and jumps from the pond scowling. "I didn't do anything."

Akane glares at him before huffing and heading for the door. "You know what you did." And with that she leaves.

Confused and upset Ranma heads into the kitchen to transform back before school and then runs off after his angry fiance.

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At school the two are met with a strange sight, even if this is Nerima.

There in the school yard was a new girl and laid out at her feet was Kuno. This wasn't the only thing that caught their attention though. The girl's outfit was not what you would see on any other girl at Furinkan. They could see that it was based on the school uniform, but with sever alterations. Firs the skirt was shortened severely, coming only to the mid thigh. The dress shirt that was normally worn under the jumper was being worn over it and the sleeves had been rolled up past her elbows, she had also left the top couple buttons undone. She wore black gloves that reached well up her arms, coming just short of her sleeves, and fastened around only her middle finger. A loose, bulky belt was worn around her waist and on her feet were chunky boots. She also wore socks that came up past her knees and a bear clip in her pale blond hair that held some of the shoulder length tresses up in a sloppy side pony tail. The girl also had a dark tan and striking blue eyes that seemed to look right through to the soul of anyone that she laid eyes on.

"Damn pervert should have kept his hands to himself." With a scowl on her face she heads into the school building, leaving those that had seen her take down the kendoist or walked in after his defeat to stare after her in shock.

"Oh, so that's the new student I heard about." Nabiki steps over to Kuno and kneels down beside him. "She's been kicked out of nearly every school in Tokyo."

Ranma and Akane watch Nabiki as she pokes Kuno and stands up.

"Why'd she get kicked out?"

"For fighting, skipping classes, not wearing the proper uniform. Overall just being a delinquent."

"So she'll fit in just fine here, maybe she can be another one of Ranma's fiances." With that Akane heads inside just as the bell rings.

Ranma and Naiki rush to get inside before they can be counted tardy.

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Ranma reaches his class and enters to see the new girl standing in the front of the class, one hand on her hip the other holding her bag over her shoulder.

Akane notices him staring and throws her eraser at his head, "Quit staring you pervert."

"Hey!" Rubbing his head, "I wasn't staring." He takes his seat before the teacher enters.

Hinako enters the room and takes in the new student. She had been warned that this newest student was a grade a delinquent but it wasn't enough to prepare her for the punk look she was wearing in place of her school uniform. "Miss Shihoin, I expect that in the future you will dress in the proper uniform."

The new girl flips a few loose strands of hair over her shoulder and gives the youthful teacher a look of disdain, "Whatever, I ain't changing the way I dress for you or anyone, Chibi-sensei." Seeing the teacher become red-faced in anger from the insult she continues, "Are you going to introduce me so I can take my seat or not?"

Grinding her teeth, Hinako stomps up o the podium and turns to the class. "Class we have a new student today. This is Shihoin Kanna. Please take your seat in front of Ranma." She sharply points to the vacant seat in front of Ranma.

Without a word she takes her seat and sits down before swinging her legs up onto the desk and leaning back. The entire class turning and staring at her. "What the hell's your problem?" She sends a glare at each of those staring and they all quickly turn back towards the front of the room.

Still upset by the delinquent behavior of her new student Hinako begins the lesson. About halfway through class though she looks back at the new student to find her sleeping. "Miss Shihoin." No response from the sleeping student. "Miss Shihoin!" Eyebrow now twitching, she throws a chalkboard eraser at the girl's head hoping to entice a battle aura that she could drain.

The entire class is surprised when the projectile is calmly snatched from the air by the target of said projectile. "Is there a reason you threw that at me Chibi-sensei?" She opens her eyes and glares coldly at Hinako, a shiver runs up the spine of the diminutive teacher.

"Uh, please translate the second paragraph of page 73 from the textbook."

With a sigh she reaches behind her and steals Ranma's textbook and opens it to the correct page and begins to read the paragraph in English. Jaws all around the classroom drop as she reads the paragraph without any pauses and flawlessly. Finishing she drops the book back onto Ranma's desk. She hadn't moved from her reclined position except to grab the book and return it. "Are you done pestering me?"

Angered to the point of steam coming out of her ears the age challenged teacher storms out of the classroom.

"I guess class is over then." Grabbing her bag Kanna heads for the door and leaves the room.

"Should someone stop her or something?"

Silence for a moment, "Do you want to die? She just stared down Hinako-sensei. And didn't get drained."

The class nods in agreement before turning to one another to chat since the class had seemingly been cancelled.

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Up on the roof of the school the new girl was leaning against the fence and staring up at the sky a look of longing on her face. "This is the last school. After I get kicked out of here they'll have to send me there."

A rumble from below draws her attention to the schoolyard where a large hole has been made in the wall in front of the school.

"Ranma Saotome! Come out here and fight me you coward." A boy wearing road worn clothes and a yellow bandanna stands amongst the rubble of the wall and settling dust.

From a second floor window she sees the boy that was sitting behind her in class, "I think his name was Ranma..."

Ranma lands smoothly a short distance from the other boy in the yard, "What ya wantin' this time Ryoga?"

"Ranma because of you I've seen Hell!" Ryoga lunges at Ranma, fist first.

"Ah, come on. Can't ya at least tell me what I did this time ta make your life miserable." Ranma fights back, seemingly bored with the whole thing.

Kanna watches the fight and ensuing property damage, anger and surprise evident on her face. The reaction of the other students what really made her mad. "I guess it's harder to get kicked out of this school than I anticipated." Her attention is suddenly drawn away from the fight below as she senses a presence not to far away. "Damn." With one last look below she bounds off the roof and disappears as an angry, hungry howl is carried through the school.

Ranma and Ryoga pause in their fight at the sound but at seeing that no one else heard it they continue their fight.

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That night in a small traditional japanese home in the Nerima district Kanna is lying in the bath, her head pillowed on her arms. "That hollow was difficult to fight off. It was stronger than I was expecting." Closing her eyes and tilting her head onto its side she continues, "It couldn't have been attracted by those boys fighting could it have been?" Thinking about it for a moment she stands up and begins to get out of the tub, light scratches can be seen on her body from her fight with the hollow earlier that day. "I'll se up a barrier anyway. No point in attracting unnecessary attention."

Drying off and heading into her room she turns off the light and gets into bed.

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The following morning Kanna arrives early and goes around the entire school setting up the points for the barrier before activating it just as the first students arrive at the front gate. "That should prevent hollows from being attracted by things on campus." Heading into the school she goes to her classroom and gets settled into her seat for another boring day of useless classes.

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The next several days past without incident beyond the usual disturbances in Nerima. The only notable difference was how Kanna seemed to have caught Ranma's eye. She just wasn't like any of the other girls he knew and the few times they had interacted she hadn't treated him any different than the other people she met at school. Even when he had knocked her from a tree after being thrown by Ryoga during one of their fights, she had gone after Ryoga, slapping him and yelling at him to watch where he fought people.

She was an enigma to Ranma. She was strong and independent and didn't take shit from anyone, even teachers. Then there was how she seemed to purposefully try to piss off the teachers. The only reason she hadn't been expelled by this point was that despite all her rebellious and delinquent behavior her grades scored her top marks. Ranma couldn't figure her out, which is why he was now approaching Nabiki.

"Hey, Nabiki."

The school's most informed student looked up from her calculator to see her biggest cash cow and future brother-in-law. "Something I can help you with Ranma?"

Ranma rubs the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah I was wondering if you knew why Kanna is the way she is. I mean I know she's smart but she seems to be trying to get kicked out."

Nabiki blinks and sets down her calculator. Not having any classes with the girl in question Nabiki knows that she wouldn't have been able to see the tells that the girl wasn't actually being a punk or delinquent, but she had seen the girl's grades and had been surprised at first. That Ranma had noticed something off about the newest student in Furinkan brought the whole problem to the forefront of her mind. "I haven't really tried looking into her history if that's what you're asking about Ranma, but for a fee I could definitely see what I can find out for you."

Ranma hesitates for a moment before pulling out a wad of cash and holding it out to Nabiki. "This is all I can give you right now, if you want more you'll have to wait till I can get some more."

Nabiki takes the money and counts it quickly before putting it into her pocket. "This should be enough, I'll see what I can find out."

"Thanks Nabiki."

The two hear shouting and Ranma groans as Nabiki walks off, "Looks like you're up Ranma. Good luck."

Ranma waves and runs off to deal with whichever rival/fiance was causing the mayhem.

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Kanna had taken to lounging on the roof after the incident of Ranma plowing into her and knocking her from the tree. Leaning back against the fence she gazes up towards the sky. It had been two weeks since she transferred here and she was surprised that she hadn't been expelled yet, "Then again look at the other students. Damn maybe I should start failing tests." While she contemplates the situation she hears the door to the roof open and close and glances over.

Ranma was trying to escape the fiance brigade during the lunch break and headed for the roof, being careful to not be followed. Reaching the roof he keeps an eye on the stairwell as he closes the door. It wasn't until he turned around that he realized he wasn't alone.

"Gah!"

Arching an eyebrow at his reaction Kanna simply stands up and walks over to him. "What was the scream for? I thought you were this school's tough guy." With a condescending look on her face she heads for the door. "Look if you're going to try hiding up here I'm leaving. You can't help but attract trouble and I don't want to get caught up in it today. Maybe some other day."

Just as she puts her hand on the door knob the distinct sound of a hollow screeching in the area is heard by both on the roof causing Kanna to hesitate at the door long enough for Ranma to notice. "Did you hear that too?"

Surprised Kanna turns to look at Ranma and then sighs. "Yeah, don't try and be a hero though that thing would eat you alive." She opens the door and begins to head into the stairwell.

"You sayin' I can't handle myself." The martial artist makes to follow after the punk girl.

"Yeah." And without another word leaves. A few minutes later Ranma sees her run out through the school gate in the direction of where the sound came from.

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The next day Ranma went to the roof at lunch to see if he could find Kanna there. He wasn't too happy about being told he couldn't fight the day before and wanted to find out why she thought he couldn't handle whatever had made that sound.

Sure enough as soon as he opens the door to the roof he sees her lounging against the fence as she had been the day before when he had come up here. She lets out a sigh and then looks at him with a bored glare.

"If you want to hide from your fan club go somewhere else."

"Hey I don't hide from nobody." Ranma walks over to her and crouches down in front of her.

"Then why the hell did you come up here? This isn't some show you know."

Moving over to sit beside her, "Well I wanted to ask you about that sound yesterday. You told me I couldn't handle it and then ran off to where ever it came from."

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself about." She stands up and heads for the roof door.

Something about the way that she walks concerns Ranma and he gets up placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hey is something wrong with your leg?"

She turns and brushes Ranma's hand from her shoulder, the wince doesn't go unnoticed by Ranma, "Nothing's wrong, just leave me alone."

Getting a determined look Ranma grabs her shoulder a little more roughly, but not enough to really hurt her and sees her wince again. When she glares at him and removes his hand he sees a small, but getting larger, blood stain on her shirt. "That ain't nothin'. You're bleedin'."

"I said it's nothing so it's nothing. Now leave me alone." She begins to storm off when they hear an explosion, the signature entry of Ryoga Hibiki, followed by a shudder and rippling of the air. "Damn it, that boy is going to make me want to let him get eaten." Kanna doesn't pause as she continues down the stairs while Ryoga bellows for Ranma to show himself.

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Kanna never came back to class after that and when Ranma got back tot he Tendo's, Nabiki pulled him aside to give him what information she could about the new student.

"I found out alot of interesting things about that girl at school Ranma. It seems your right about her trying to get kicked out of school. I couldn't find out why though, but she's currently in foster care."

"huh. Does that mean her parents are dead?"

Nabiki shakes her head, "No, they seem to be alive. They just don't want to take care of her or they can't." Nabiki pulls out a file, "She started acting up when she entered the foster care system. Since then the longest she has ever attended a school was for 3 months. Lately its been about 2 weeks."

Ranma lets out a low whistle, "She's good at getting kicked out isn't she?"

Nodding Nabiki continues, "I also looked into how her behavior is affecting her at Furinkan. It seems our school is perfectly fine with letting her act the delinquent as long as she keeps getting top marks. It's really improving the school's standing among the other schools in the area." Nabiki puts the folder away, "Ranma this girl is a certifiable genius but all she cares about is getting kicked out of every school in Tokyo. The only one left is Karakura High."

Ranma looks towards the ceiling taking this in, "Karakura is a better school than Furinkan though, isn't it? Why not send her there before here. That list you showed me of the other schools she's been sent to were pretty nice, so why not Karakura and then here."

Nabiki blinks at Ranma's observation and goes back through her folder on the new girl. "Hmm, I can't believe I missed that." Nabiki looks up at Ranma and holds out a page from the folder to him, "Her dad apparently lives in Karakura."

"So she's just trying to get into a school near him so she can be with her dad? Why not just tell him she wants to be near him."

Nabiki shakes her head, "I don't know. She has to have told someone that that's what she wants."

The two sit in silence for a while before heading down to dinner. Neither says anything else concerning the new student but both think about what has been discovered.

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In the middle of the night Ranma awakes to the sound of that same screech that he's heard twice before now. This time it was much closer than before and Ranma heads out to the street to see if he can see what's causing it. Just as he is about to open the front door he hears the screech again, but this time it sounds like whatever was making it was dying. He speeds out of the house and into the street. There he sees Kanna, she seems barely able to stand. The sound of dripping water draws his attention to the puddle forming beneath her. Another drip and Ranma realizes that its blood, just in time to catch her as she collapses to the pavement.

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"Pops! Kasumi! Mr. Tendo!" Ranma carries the unconscious girl into the house and heads for the living room where he can lay her down.

Those he called for and those he didn't all rush down the stairs at Ranma's cry and see the trail of blood leading into the living room. Fearing the worst Akane rushes in expecting to see a bloody and beaten Ranma. Her fear and worry quickly turns to anger when she sees him crouching over the unconscious girl on the floor. She promptly punches him out into the pond in the yard as Kasumi takes over care for the injured girl on the floor.

"Father, you should call Doctor Tofu. It looks like she was attacked by some animal."

Genma kneels down beside the girl to inspect her wounds, becoming worrisome at their resemblance to a clawed human hand. "Boy, you weren't responsible for this were you?"

The four still in the living room glance over at the sopping wet red head just making her way into the house. "Why would you even think that? I heard something in the street and went to check it out. I found her about to collapse out there and brought her in. I know you're a heavy sleeper pops but I'm surprised no one else heard that loud screech."

Mr. Tendo comes back into the room after calling the doctor carrying a first aid kit which he hands to Kasumi. "Thank you Father." Everyone sits back as Kasumi begins to tend to the girl's wounds. She pauses at her shoulder, finding the remains of an older bandage and wound just as Kanna begins to stir.

Kanna opens her eyes slowly to a bright light and after blinking away the sleepiness sees the faces of some of her schoolmates and others she doesn't know, "Where..."

"You're in the Tendo's living room. You passed out in the street." She turns to the speaker and sees Ranma.

"Girl, how'd you get those injuries? The boy says he heard some kind of animal in the street just before he got out there and saw you."

"They're nothing." She tries to sit up but winces and falls back onto the floor.

"Doctor Tofu should be here soon." Kasumi smiles down at her as she continues cleaning the blood from Kanna's wounds. "It really would help us if you told us what happened."

Just then they hear a knock at the door and Nabiki gets up to let the doctor in, "Right in here Doc."

Tofu walks over and kneels down beside Kanna, looking over her wounds. Ranma had escorted Kasumi from the room when Nabiki went to answer the door and was just coming back in when Tofu began questioning the girl about her injuries.

"Strange. I've never seen anything like this. They're too large to be from even a lion or a tiger. The only time I saw anything like this was Akane's window after the Pheonix took her. But even those marks weren't this big." He looks up at the patient for an answer.

"It's really not important what caused them. Just bandage me up so I can go home." Blinking Tofu begins bandaging the wounds as Nabiki heads for the phone. "I'll call your parents and let them know where you are so they can give you a ride."

"Don't bother. They left yesterday saying they couldn't take it anymore. Third set this month." Kanna seems to smirk despite the pain of Tofu treating her wounds.

"Do you like driving people away from you?" Ranma looks down at Kanna, disturbed by how she's treating all of this. "What made that screeching sound? I know I heard it regardless of what the rest of you think. And I've heard it before. The other day you said I shouldn't go after whatever it was but you obviously do." He almost seems to glare at her in frustration.

Everyone else stays quiet, not used to Ranma acting this way. "Are you done? What they are doesn't even matter, you shouldn't be able to hear or see them anyway. How you do hear them is a mystery to me?" Kanna pauses before continuing, "Look just leave them to me and keep yourself from getting hurt." She makes as if to roll over and drop the whole thing but stops with a wince when she aggravates one of the fresh injuries.

The following silence is disturbed by another loud screech, heard only by Ranma and Kanna. "Is that thing after you or something?" Ranma stands up but looks around to see everyone staring at him and then looks to Kanna.

"They can't hear it, didn't I just tell you that?" An explosion in the yard as one of the walls is impacted and shattered. Kanna moves to stand up but Tofu holds her down. "Perhaps you should let Ranma deal with whatever it is."

When he looks back up at Ranma he sees the boy staring into the yard where the new hole in the wall is located. Shock, the most evident emotion on his face. "What the hell is that thing? Some kind of demon."

"It's a hollow. Break the mask with one of those energy attacks I've seen you fight with and it will go away." Unable to fight it herself Kanna decides to help Ranma stop the hollow before it can cause anymore damage. She prays that this one is just a normal hollow, instead of one of the more powerful ones that have been more common.

As Ranma engages the hollow the rest of the household stares as Ranma seems to be fighting air, and getting his ass kicked.

"Boy, what's the matter with you? There's nothing out there."

With one last exhausted punch Ranma manages to shatter the mask and the hollow dissolves with a scream. Wobbly from his fight Ranma makes it back into the house and collapses next to Kanna. "Ok, now you have to explain what that thing is. Was it some kind of demon?"

"Yeah, sure some kind of demon." Kanna pauses to think, "It was the soul of someone who died that lost its sense of humanity. The only way it can go on existing is to feed on other human souls. They're called hollows because of the hole in their chest where their chain of fate once existed." She sees Ranma gain a look of disgust and fear at hearing this, "Don't worry you didn't kill it. You purified the soul so it could move on in peace." She knew she was lying but nobody else needed to know that.

"How common are these things?"

Kanna turns to Nabiki, "Depends on the area. Some are very high in spiritual energy and the hollows are attracted as if by bait. Others they completely ignore. Then there are people like Ranma and his friends." She looks back at Ranma, "People that are like delicacies to hollows. As far as Nerima is concerned all the powerful martial artists fighting all the time are attracting them. That Ryoga guy knocking out my barrier at the school isn't helping though." Kanna scowls at that comment.

"So is there anything we can do?"

"Stop fighting so damn much or move. Hollows may be coming for the fighters but they will attack anything with a soul." Kanna gets up from the floor and inspects Tofu's bandaging. "I need to go. Sorry to have bothered you," Looking at Ranma again, "And you. Don't go looking for trouble."

They watch her leave before going back to bed themselves.

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When Kanna gets home she heads for the phone and dials. After a few rings the phone is answered on the other end. "Yeah I know you don't like it when I call you direct."

"Look I don't really care right now. I just want to know what's going on."

"There were two powerful hollows here tonight."

"No I am not alright! I got the crap beat out of me by the first one, Hollow bait took care of the other one."

"Why won't you do anything!"

"Dad!" She slams the phone down and falls to her knees beside its place on the wall, crying. "Damnit Dad, just let me come be with you."

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